Book Review: Militess and Mage by Monica Enderle Pierce

Excellent fantasy novel. If you’re looking for a romance novel, this may not be for you. It’s really more of a fantasy story with a romance running through it.

Starting with the cons, as there are so few.

Cons

There are almost no steamy scenes, and the few that are there are forgettable. Again, this is more of a fantasy story.

If you’re good with the one sorta con, I highly recommend giving this book a read.

Pros

The story has an excellent plot that moves along well, especially coming into its own once there’s a bit of trust between the characters.

I love that they’re not “in love” or even “in lust” with each other at first sight. This attraction grows along with their trust. The sparring back and forth started to drag a touch in the beginning, but the author soon got the characters working together by moving the plot along.

The characters sing. I love their strength and their vulnerability. They both made sacrifices, sometimes unwillingly, for their power. It’s clear both earned their standing even if they were born into privilege. The Mage suffered under a cruel master and the warrior suffered the social stigma of being a bastard.

Both the hero and heroine are very powerful, but so is the villain they are up against, and their power has reasonable limits. This adds to the tension as victory is never guaranteed and there are a lot of close calls along the way.

Once the plot really starts moving, it’s fast and furious and you get swept along for the ride.

I *love* that heroine starts out strong and ends strong. She is never weakened for the story. She doesn’t have to go from warrior to damsel to make the story work. I loved that she was physically scarred and unrepentant about it. She took lovers as she chose. Yes! A true warrior that happened to be a woman instead of a “female warrior”.